‘Mozart in the Jungle’ Season 4: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

For Mozart in the Jungle fans, the highly anticipated day has finally arrived when we can watch the new season on Prime Video- and let’s be honest, we all have been waiting with bated breath to see what will happen with Rodrigo and Hailey after their tryst at the end of Season 3.

Heavy attended the show’s recent press junket in New York City and not only sat in on the conference, but got to meet with Gael Garcia Bernal (Rodrigo), Lola Kirke (Hailey) and Malcolm McDowell (Thomas), who all gave us glimpses into what happens this time around and how their characters fare in the jungle of love and classical music.

Read on for spoilers and to learn more about the season.

1. Rodrigo Is Now Hailey’s ‘Boyfriend’

(Amazon Prime Video)

This season, Rodrigo gets called a boyfriend for the very first time in his romantic life. As a result, he becomes enamored by the word, mentioning it whenever he can. At the press conference, Garcia Bernal explained the fascination:

I don’t know what’s he’s thinking. I don’t know what he thinks about the relationship. I mean, he talks about being married fives times to his ex-wife, so in a way, we kind of laugh internally, but actually…this is the first time he listens to the word ‘boyfriend.’ He really wants to be radical by being a boyfriend.

In the clip below, we ask Garcia Bernal how Rodrigo changes this season and he replies, “Well, he has a girlfriend now. And stuff happens, dealing with a relationship together.”

In the second episode, the pair travels to North Carolina [the set was actually on Long Island, New York] to visit Hailey’s parents, who are not happy that she is not working as an oboist. “I always imagined Hailey’s parents to be that tough,” Kirke said during the conference.

At the end of their trip, Hailey suggests Rodrigo move in with her, to which he agrees. That will surely stir things up for the new couple, but at least Rodrigo won’t mind hearing her oboe practicing!

2. Hailey Is a Conductor

(Amazon Prime Video)

Through Hailey’s new endeavor, the show is shedding light on women conductors, who are rare in the music industry. To learn the art, Kirke was coached via Skype by a female conductor, whom she admired not only for her work, but ability to multitask.

I had the best teacher…She was really excited to see women conductors represented because they hadn’t been. We were Skyping while she was in Ireland and I was in Japan…It was amazing because her three-year-old son would come in the room while she was teaching me and sit on her lap…It’s amazing to be part of the women’s vision of makers and artists.

In the clip below, Kirke teased the professional and personal changes her character faces this season. “She is a conductor, which is a pretty big change from being just an oboist and she has a relationship with another conductor.”

Another sneak peek into the new Hailey we see this time around is, “she drinks a lot this season. She should probably go to AA just for classical musicians,” Kirke joked.

3. Thomas & Gloria Are Still Going Strong

(Amazon Prime Video)

“It’s the most delicious thing to get to work with Bernadette Peters,” McDowell said at the conference. “And I get to sleep with her- in my head, in my head!” he said. “The chemistry is palpable,” he added about their on-screen spark.

This season, Thomas is back at the podium conducting a competing orchestra, which makes his relationship with Gloria, played by Peters, somewhat tumultuous. “There’s a lot of comedy with her. It’s on, off, up, down, I suppose like any love affair,” he told us in the clip below.

When asked what his relationship with Peters is like off camera, he said, “I’ve just come from the theater seeing her do Hello Dolly. I love her to death.”

As for Thomas’ temperament, McDowell said nothing has changed:

Well he’s still a prick, but a charming one.

Before his foray into the world of Mozart, McDowell was giving orders to Jeremy Piven on Entourage as Ari Gold’s boss, Terrance McQuewick. In comparing the two, he dished to us, “Entourage was a great show. I think this one’s a better written show, personally.”

“Sushi every night, what can I tell you, looking at Bernadette,” McDowell said at the conference when talking about their trip this season to film. We were also told there was a lot of karaoke when they weren’t taping.

Kirke told us that because of their trips together, the cast has become extremely tight-knit. When asked what the atmosphere is like on set, she told us:

We have a lot of fun…a lot of jokes. We’ve been blessed that we get to travel so much, so there’s also this family vibe that really comes into play because we’re constantly going to new environments and we’re the only people that each other knows.

5. It Features a Mozart Piece that Was Never Finished, Because the Composer Died in the Middle of It at 35

(Amazon Prime Video)

The audience is introduced to “Requiem,” the piece that Mozart never finished, because he died before its completion.

As for the way we will see it on screen, McDowell said in our interview:

He does it as Mozart wrote it at the very end. And it just stops and that’s when he died. And it’s sort of poetic in a way.

“What I love about this is that it brings classical music to the masses without hitting them over the head with it,” McDowell continued. “And this year they got in dance too, which is great.”

“Even though I’m not a conductor, I play one on TV, which is even better,” he added at the conference. “Because I get to stand up there with 40 musicians, all in sync, and the surge of adrenaline and excitement is so amazing…I don’t read a word of music, but it doesn’t matter. It’s all on playback anyway.”

Through playing a passionate conductor, Garcia Bernal’s relationship with music has changed. “Music is not so separated from my life now,” he explained at the conference. “Now I feel it’s very close. Whenever I listen to music, I listen as if I was at the podium.”

Because the actor, who won a Golden Globe for the role in 2016, plays Rodrigo so naturally, he gets recognized for it all over the world. “Sometimes I walk in…It happened in Berlin recently, someone shouted, “Maestro!”

1 Comment

I love this show, all the Actors, especially Garcia Bernal of course and his brilliant Girlfriend. Always been a huge fan of Bernadette Peters and McDowell. It is a jewel in an otherwise sad and dreary time. I loved Bernals speech about being an immigrant. I look forward to watching the storyline progress and trust Rodrigo and Hailai will find each other with the same passion

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On February 16, you can watch Mozart in the Jungle's Season 4 with Amazon Prime. Heavy interviewed its stars to see what can we can expect this time around.